Bert Sproston (22 June 1915 – 27 January 2000) was an English football full back who is remembered for playing both at international level for the

England national football team The England national football team has represented England in international football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in England, which is affilia ...

and at club level for

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

, Manchester City,

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...

and

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

. He was born in

Elworth Elworth is a village in the county of Cheshire, located in the North West of England, and is a suburb of the town of Sandbach, located approximately one mile eastward. Elworth is known for its industrial past, having historically been the home ...

on 22 June 1914. He played for England 11 times and also won 2 wartime caps. With Manchester City he made 125 appearances and scored 5 goals. After his playing career ended he spent over two decades as trainer at Bolton Wanderers. He died on 27 January 2000. After appearing in the infamous Germany vs England game in Berlin in 1938 he was approached by Rolf Friedland who was a 17-year-old Jew trying to escape Nazi Germany. Upon his return to the UK after the game he worked with Tottenham and the FA to secure an invitation for Rolf to visit the UK for a representative football match from which Friedland managed to turn the visit into a permanent stay. On an England trip to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

in 1938, Sproston told

Stanley Matthews Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English footballer who played as an outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the British game, he is the only player to have been knighted while sti ...

"I know nowt 'bout politics and t'like. All I knows is football. But t'way I see it, yon 'Itler fella is an evil little twat".

References

External links

Profile
at leedsfans.org
Profile
at EnglandStats.com 1915 births 2000 deaths English footballers England international footballers England wartime international footballers Manchester City F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Leeds United F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff English Football League players English Football League representative players Association football fullbacks {{England-footy-defender-1910s-stub